1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for hoisting and skinning game animals, and in particular to such game hoists that are portable by virtue of their light weight, compactness and ease of assembly and disassembly.
2. Background Art
Portable game hoists have been disclosed for hoisting a game animal onto a motor vehicle; see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,722 B2 to Perkins et al. But, a hunter who kills a large game animal such as a deer, moose or bear, in an area inaccessible to motor vehicles needs to be able to hoist and skin the animal on site and then cut the animal into pieces small enough to carry to motorized transport, such as a pickup truck or sports utility vehicle. Portable game hoists have also been disclosed that attach to a horizontal or vertical support that may be found near the site of a kill, of which U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,907 to DiPietro et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,868 B1 to Murray, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,534 to McGough are examples, but their utility is limited to locations that happen to provide such supports.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,559 B1 to Kinnebrew disclosed a transportable winch operated apparatus for removing the skin of an animal carcass in the wild. Kinnebrew's apparatus had a substantially rectangular platform to which a pair of sectional tubular stanchions were detachably secured. A cross member mounted to the stanchions carried a winch and retractable cable connected to an elongated carcass-lifting member. The carcass-lifting member had a pair of adjustable and flexible carcass leg retaining members that attached to the carcass's hind legs. Although Kinnebrew's apparatus overcame the limitations of the above-referenced disclosures, no provision was made by Kinnebrew to tension apart the hind legs of a carcass hoisted by his apparatus. Separating the rear legs from one another under tension facilitates skinning a hoisted, four-legged carcass. A need remains, therefore, for a hunter's skinning hoist that is portable, requires no on-site horizontal or vertical support, and tensions apart the hind legs of a hoisted carcass to facilitate skinning the carcass.